dissonates | [action/written]

[He's so stunned and disoriented to be alive again that he doesn't notice the lost connection inside his own head for at least three minutes.

For a while Asch just lies there in the grass, staring up at the sky and trying to figure out what the problem is. More specifically, what he's missing. He's not blind this time, that's a pleasant enough surprise. All his limbs and other senses are working. He thinks back to as many significant life experiences, pleasant or otherwise, and he can't come up with any gaps or missing memories. If he'd lost any, they weren't important enough to matter, apparently.

It's only when he finally sits up and tries to contact Luke and find out what's going on that he realizes he can't. He tries five times, wrestling with his fonons, prodding at the mental wall that used to be an open passage between his mind and his replica's. With that not working, it's easy to figure out what the problem is. He tries fonic artes- each of the four spells he's mastered, a few others learned from the Daathic books he'd gotten over the years. None of them work.

So. Answers that question. He'd kind of rather have taken the gap in memories, but it's not like anyone has ever asked him what he wanted.

Arriving at an empty house - aside from a noisy cat and a frantic cheagle - is just icing on the cake of his crappy life, so Asch wastes no time on sentimentality. Best to just get it over with: he opens the journal, jotting down a quick and emotionless note.]

I'm back.

Arietta the Wild has returned to Auldrant.

If anyone is willing to give me a debriefing on how the Zompania battle ended, I'd be grateful. I'll reopen Good Spirits tonight.

[True to his word, Asch'll be at Good Spirits that evening, though the atmosphere of the bar is significantly less cheery than usual. And with him tending the place, that's saying something.]

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Oh.

[Anise isn't really sure what to say; partially because she's still drained from the last few days fighting, and partially because she knows what Arietta's going back to on Auldrant. Even if the God General wasn't ever really her friend or even someone she wanted around, she didn't deserve to die.]

[She'll place a hand over the camera as she writes, and do everything that she knows how to make herself as anonymous as possible. She doesn't want this message associated with her at all for a variety of reasons; it did probably seem like a mean trick, coming from her.]

I hope she's doing okay.

[With all the universes and all the people here it's possible that maybe she didn't even go back to Auldrant. Maybe she went somewhere else, somewhere better, or maybe she even went back to an Auldrant where she didn't die. If nothing else, Anise could hope.]

Edited (ICONS THO) 2014-06-06 06:54 (UTC)

I'm sorry for your loss. {He sounds like he's suppressing, but that's a way of dealing. She has used it many times before.} The battle ended bloodily. Many people died as sacrifices, however we were able to avoid total annihilation.

{"For now" is apparent in her tone.}

In victory, of course.

[ There's some irony in this statement. He responds with voice here, but he's totally going to rock the good spirits tonight. And he's going to hope that the ghost of Norma not being there doesn't make him sick. He wonders if this guy knows she's dead. . . . ]

[There's a short list of people this could be, considering how few friends Arietta seemed to have in Luceti, but Asch doesn't feel like prying to figure it out. He'd be happier if people respected his privacy, so.]

I'm sure she's better off. She was never very happy here.

[He shrugs off the sympathy. Even after living together for so long, he and Arietta weren't particularly close, no more so than they'd been at Daath. Her presence was going to be missed, he was sure, once it sunk in, but he wasn't going to weep over it. He's pretty sure she'd have felt the same if their roles were reversed.]

It's hard to call it a victory, under these circumstances.

["Of course". That's laughable.]

You say that like it was a given. We all died easily enough the first time.

{A loss is a loss. Every one of them hurts - though the amount they hurt varies. Lightning can't make it better, so her words were mainly to give him some company.}

Many victories are covered in blood.

That's the nature of war. Diplomacy doesn't seem to hold any value to these people.

[This lady seems to get it; he can appreciate that.]

There wasn't a chance for diplomacy. Only open fire and people falling on every side. {She takes a deep breath, forcing the memories away. She certainly doesn't need to dwell on them, though her mind seems to like fixating on the blood.} My armor is in sore need of repair.

Really? I thought she liked it here.

[Then again, Anise had not really seen much of Arietta (and maybe she had been actively avoiding her), but it seemed weird that Arietta wouldn't be happy in a place where she was free to spend time with Ion.]

[He's comforted by the fact that the cultists had their share of casualties, oddly enough. After years of fighting these people and dying at their hands, he's given up on sympathy.]

You should have it fixed as soon as you're able. There's no telling when we'll be called into battle next. I've heard the smithy's staff is competent enough.

She liked being with Ion. What else made her happy in this place?

[Even with Ion, it's not as if she got to see him every day. Not with him living with them. There's always been a separation between God-Generals and the rest of the residents of Auldrant. It's just how things are.]

But it didn't really seem like anything else really made her happy back home, either.

[There definitely was a rift between the two houses, but as the newest arrival, Anise didn't really understand how long it'd been in place. As far as she knew, Arietta only started avoiding the house when she showed up.]

I'll give them a chance. {Her armor was...special. To say the least. It had been forged by the goddess Etro and Lightning was fastidious about its care.} It was a gift. Letting it go to waste would be an insult to she who gave it to me.

Why would you expect her to act happy around someone she hates?

[It's like the replica's friends all assuming he's cranky. They only ever see him around Luke, so it isn't a surprise, even if he doesn't like it.]

Then ask them if you can observe their work before you hand it over. I doubt they'd protest if a new customer is cautious about their skill. Especially if it's for something that valuable.

[He knows he sure as hell wouldn't just hand over the Key of Lorelei to an amateur smithy, if it ever needed repair.]

You're full of good advice. I'm Lightning. {She's not good with lengthy intros, sorry.} I've been in the village for five months.

What about you?

Asch. [Clearly he's not, either.] This is my sixth year in Luceti.

[Technically more like three, for him, but there's no sense in confusing matters by trying to use the Auldrant calendar.]

{Five months versus six years. Lightning blows out a long breath. She doesn't want to be in Luceti that long. Each month has crept by sluggishly; she can't imagine thinking in years instead.}

Do you consider Luceti home or hell?

Edited 2014-06-07 07:03 (UTC)

[He scoffs at that. Are those his only options?]

Neither. I wouldn't call it a paradise, either, but there are worse places where one could be trapped.

{She hasn't met anyone who stands in the middle. Either they try to make a home or they want to poke and prod at the intricacies of the village in hopes of returning to their world.}

It sounds like you have experience with worse.

Yeah, but it felt like she hated everyone.

[Aside from Ion. Maybe it was a little cruel of Anise to say, and it wasn't that Arietta hated everyone to the degree that she hated Anise, but the fon master guardian had never really seen her warm up to anyone.]

...Hn. If that's how you want to interpret it.

[That's as close to a yes as he's going to get with a stranger. Sorry, Lightning.]

I can say the same. {There's nothing wrong with keeping secrets. She isn't going to intrude.} Home isn't a place for me anymore.

[....

....

....

Huh. Interesting.]

You can't go back, or you don't want to?

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